Survivor Island 1

Survivor Island

Paleogene-Neogene

Paleogene 66-23 mya

  • Life has rebounded after the mass extinction 66 mya
  • Queensland’s forests are filled with tiny species of frogs, lizards, snakes, mammals and birds
  • Newly discovered mammal and frog fossils from Geebung, Brisbane, are closely related to species from South America
  • Great faunal exchange between Australia and South America occurred via an ice-free Antarctica

Neogene I 23-5.2 mya

  • Australia slowly moves north as an island of evolution and, over millions of years, our modern fauna will evolve its globally unique character
  • Fossils found a the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site in northwest Queensland include the ancestors of the platypus, koala, tree frogs, and Burdekin plum
  • The earliest global record of Pandanus occurs in central Queensland

Neogene II 5.3-2.38 mya

  • Dry forests replace rainforest, driving the evolution of the first giant marsupials and reptiles
  • Reptilian predators dominate the Queensland landscape, including land-dwelling crocodiles, giant snakes and the Komodo Dragon
  • At the end of this Period, the age of Australia's megafauna begins